I’m completely surprised by the decision not to allow friends, relatives and family of the University of Hawaii football team to attend (“University of Hawaii football players’ parents’ plea to attend games rejected,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 15). I hope our Warriors take it out on San Jose State.

If the fans were required to obey strict policies, they should be able to attend. The players deserve and earned the right to have their families present.

Football is a way of life in Hawaii.

We need to consider the hard work these athletes put in.

Brad Thiessen

Hawaii Kai

Unfair to just throw seniors under the bus

The state Department of Health with the governor’s office has decreed, “if there are not enough resources to provide to all patients … younger patients will be prioritized” (“Crisis of care,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 12).

If you’re a vaccinated senior citizen and need emergency care you may be denied that care in favor of a younger person, even if that younger person has refused to be vaccinated!

How is that even remotely fair?

The very first criterion to rationing scarce emergency care should be whether you are vaccinated. If not vaccinated you go to the back of the line, allowing exceptions only for those who cannot be vaccinated. Sacrificing the vaccinated seniors, many of whom have faithfully followed the masking and distancing protocols as well, in favor of the anti-vaxxers is unconscionable.

It is throwing the seniors under the bus while the anti-vaxxers, who put everybody at risk, ride.

James A. Hildenbrand

Waialae Iki

Premature to exempt hospitals from liability

Gov. David Ige signing Executive Order 21-06 is an extremely premature mistake and moral outrage (“Hawaii medical facilities given immunity in COVID surge,” Sept. 6).

He has given our hospitals freedom to ration patient care, which is typically done in dire emergencies.

Why has he plowed ahead with this potentially harmful move without trying less drastic measures first, like aggressively curbing gatherings or implementing lockdown periods, as Lt. Gov. Josh Green suggested? These have been proven to lower infection rates and would curb the need for the order.

Instead, he’s making a giant leap toward allowing medical personnel to decide, without liability, who gets care. Who lives or dies? The fact that all reasonable mitigating methods haven’t yet been tried to support our over- extended hospitals demonstrates a real moral disconnect and lack of value for human health and well-being.

I urge Green to conduct his public forum so everyone can weigh in on saving lives — before deciding among them.

Susan Shire

Kailua

In a free society, citizens still have obligations

Donna “Davina” Default wrote that her forebears fought to defend her freedom, and hopes their sacrifices won’t be in vain (“Vaccine passports are discriminatory,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 9).

Our forebears would be the first to tell us that individual freedoms are not unlimited. Our free society is based on the rights and obligations of its citizens.

One obligation is for citizens to have the courage to step up and fight to protect that society from all foes, including COVID-19.

Our country and society are at great peril today because too many citizens have forgotten our forebears’ courage in the defense of our society’s rights and obligations.

Sam Gillie

Hawaii Kai

Personal liberties don’t trump the public good

Thank God these are not the days of polio or smallpox, because we would never have defeated these diseases with the current number of anti-vaxxers around.

I don’t know how people put their personal liberties ahead of the public good just because they can. There should be consequences for refusing to vaccinate where the job requires it.

Just like you can’t drive down the middle of the road even though that infringes on your personal rights, some rules are there for the public good and to promote an orderly and safe society. Likewise with the vaccine requirements.

Steve Cedillos

McCully-Moiliili

Having fun ranks higher than saving lives

With the increased surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths, you would think that a caring and pragmatic individual would say, “Saving a life is more important than money or partying.” But it doesn’t appear so. By observing what is occurring in the U.S., more and more Americans have shown by their actions that saving lives ranks below having fun. What has happened to the U.S. as a nation?

Dickie H. Au

Wahiawa

Happy, grateful to get vaccination lifeline

Receiving a vaccine is a lot like getting a life vest on a sinking ship. So happy and grateful to have received one, and for those of our loved ones!

James T. Nakata

Kaneohe

Former president missing from memorials

Your Sunday article about the 9/11 memorials that took place in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., mentioned President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. But there was hardly a word about former President Donald Trump. He provided commentary at a boxing match in Florida.

Paul Gutekanst

Kealakekua, Hawaii island

>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter